Matthew Najmowicz

Politically, we need to dream bigger

It is currently 2:07 a.m. on election night and the social media sphere has reacted in true form. Republican voters are having cocaine fueled orgies after taking the US Senate and also winning multiple state governorships and the Democratic voters are having a collective feeling similar to survivor’s guilt.

The statisticians will talk about ALEC and other GOP tactics as to how the Republicans gained so much ground, despite national polling suggesting displeasure. I will not discuss actual tactics. I want to talk about the coin and currency of politics – rhetoric. Words matter.

Democrats – meet me on camera three.

This is exactly what you get when you stand for NOTHING. If you are willing to sell yourself out faster than the other guy, then what is the point of voting for you?

Your greatest asset, Barack Obama, is left alone at the altar. You all abandoned him. You never stood up for him. You don’t stand up for the values you claim to profess. No one talked about the economy or dysfunction in government. All your ads basically said “I am not as mean as the other guy. I won’t sell you out.”

Then you drive the dagger into the back of everyone. Et tu, Democrats!

Words matter.

Not only are Democrats absolute sellouts who stand for absolutely nothing, the only thing they wish to fight against are Republicans. This is not enough to sustain an ideology like the Republican do. Say what you want about Libertarians and Republicans – they actually believe in something.

What are you willing to fight for? Healthcare? Education? The economy? World peace?

What are you willing to fight against? Racism? Classism? Poverty? Hopelessness?

Tell me right now what you stand for, Democrats. Show me that you fight for some shred of humanity.

Someone once asked me what my political ideology was and I was sort of unsure. Granted, I have had time to think about what I stood for and what I valued. I knew I valued workers. I knew I valued the disenfranchised. I always rooted for underdogs. I always rooted for the person who wasn’t supposed to win. However, I wasn’t sure how to articulate what I felt.

I found my answer and this is it. Cornel West described Martin Luther King Jr as an extremist for love and a militant for tenderness.

I think if a guy is starving, we should probably feed that guy. I think if people want to work, they should be able to work. If someone doesn’t want to work, I will not hate him or her. We will make sure they are taken care of too. Why not?!

Stop it with calling one another moochers! We have the means and the technology. I don’t want to live in the modern world – I want to live with the promise of a new world.

Yes, this my utopia. This is my naïve dream. What exactly are your dreams, Democrats? In my world, we work fucking hard, so we try to alleviate suffering. What is your world – iPads, a carbon tax (not a bad idea), a green economy, charter schools, lowered college tuition?

How about everyone goes to college for free? How about universal healthcare? How about food, clothing and shelter as not a civil right but a HUMAN right for all people?

I know. Matthew Najmowicz is some sort of Communist, Socialist, Anarchist, or even worse a person who shows outward love to his brothers and sisters. I show love to even the people who wish to stop me. If making sure a child doesn’t lie outside in the cold makes me weak, then does it make you who wish to deny that child strong?

Must everything boil down to only the strong survive? Must I live in a world where all we celebrate is winners and losers instead of celebrating one another?

Who is going to save Detroit?

Detroit has been absolutely looted by everyone. Some people call Detroit Zombie Land. Detroit is just another post-industrial wasteland in which everyone fends for themselves without hope of their government showing leadership. Things are so bad in Detroit that they started shutting off the water supply to residents behind on their water bill. Detroit is around 136 square miles – it’s massive. Imagine your water being shut off in a place where hope goes to die and everyone just reminisces about the old days and what America used to be.

They gnaw on the bones in Detroit and we let it happen. Now Detroit is just a political punch line for everyone. If you don’t think political parties don’t want to strip your city or town to the bare bones, don’t be naïve.

They are coming for you.

Maybe I shouldn’t talk to Democrats. I should be talking to ALL of you.

We have a chance to fight back. We need to sit and think. It’s time to reassess what in this world is worth living for. What is the good life? I don’t know what the good life is, but I am guessing a part of that answer also involves all of you. If you aren’t okay, I am not okay. If I am not okay, you won’t be okay. This is all part of living in the world with neighbors and what we all do does impact our neighbors – does it not?

Solidarity? Collectivism? How about we just try working together for once?

Democrats, you need a come back to Jesus moment. Yes, you can! I will even supply you with a new slogan below.

There is a lot of gerrymandering and cash involved too. They spent six billion dollars on this election. You could feed a lot of homeless people with six billion dollars. Oh wait, you might go to jail.

Maya North

Oh, Matt, I could not be more proud of you — perfectly, cogently put plus tightly and eloquently written! Honestly, the jellyfish Dems just gave this the freak away — eejits. But you’re right — the basic issue is love and compassion, or lack thereof. The Republicans in power are all about “I’ve got MINE, what’s wrong with YOU???” I am reluctantly led to extrapolate that the Democrats feel that way, too, and take the convenient out of letting the Republicans being their ugly face so they don’t stand accused of the same thing. If they don’t feel that way, well, from a practical standpoint, what’s the difference?

When we, as a species, finally come to the point where the peace, prosperity and happiness of everybody is as important to us as what we define as ourselves and those we count as our own, then it will change — and not until.

There is a lot of gerrymandering and cash involved too. They spent six billion dollars on this election. You could feed a lot of homeless people with six billion dollars. Oh wait, you might go to jail.

Maya North

Oh, Matt, I could not be more proud of you — perfectly, cogently put plus tightly and eloquently written! Honestly, the jellyfish Dems just gave this the freak away — eejits. But you’re right — the basic issue is love and compassion, or lack thereof. The Republicans in power are all about “I’ve got MINE, what’s wrong with YOU???” I am reluctantly led to extrapolate that the Democrats feel that way, too, and take the convenient out of letting the Republicans being their ugly face so they don’t stand accused of the same thing. If they don’t feel that way, well, from a practical standpoint, what’s the difference?

When we, as a species, finally come to the point where the peace, prosperity and happiness of everybody is as important to us as what we define as ourselves and those we count as our own, then it will change — and not until.